The 1971 Qantas Bomb Hoax

[Stationair8]

Interesting article on the the ABC news website about the 1971 Qantas bomb hoax, funny how how a petty thief can get $500, 000 out of Qantas.

[Roj approved]

It seems the petty thieves are still at it!!

$500,000 in 1971 would be about $11M Rounded up in today's money ;-) (AJ's pay last year)

[tail wheel]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-23/qantas-bomb-hoax-1971-the-great-plane-robbery-australia/10807510

[Rated De]

It seems the petty thieves are still at it!!

$500,000 in 1971 would be about $11M Rounded up in today's money ;-) (AJ's pay last year)

Brilliant!
And the bomb Little Napoleon leaves behind will cost a lot more to fix!

[machtuk]

Interesting story, rather corny by today's standards but never the less interesting:-)
Try that stunt today & you would be made out a hero knowing our judicial system!:-)

[ampclamp]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bC8x5PNwbM

[Centaurus]

Interesting story, rather corny by today's standards but never the less interesting:-)
As a matter of historical interest I knew the captain of that 707 personally . His name was Bill Selwyn. Before joining Qantas he flew DC3 and Lockheed Hudsons with The Sydney Morning Herald Flying Services based at Camden NSW in 1947-50. That company air dropped newspapers at various places in northern NSW. During WW2, Bill flew Vickers Wellington bombers over Occupied Europe. He was one of the most calm and relaxed individuals I have met in the flying game.

As a 16 year old general hand with the Herald Flying Services at the time Bill was there, I occasionally operated as chucker-outer of newspapers into fields such as Armidale, Glen Innes, Muswellbrook, and landing at Tamworth, Casino, Evans head and Coffs Harbour. The pilots let me fly the aircraft in straight and level and in turn I made them cups of awful chicory coffee which looked like black goo. My boss was Captain Harry Purvis AFC, the General Manager of the operation at Camden. Doug Swain DFC was the flight superintendent. Doug was killed in a Hudson crash in the Barrington Tops in NSW some years later.

[cooperplace]

over $200k was "never recovered". I bet it really was, if you know what I mean......

[Stationair8]

Thanks for that info, on Captain Selwyn.

[LeadSled]

. He was one of the most calm and relaxed individuals I have met in the flying game.
.
Centaurus,
I can confirm his very calm approach to everyday flying ---- the standing joke, after this incident, and including the dummy bomb discovery, was that his pulse rate skyrocketed from a normal 56 bpm to 57.
As a S/O I flew with him often, lovely bloke.
Tootle pip!!
PS: You left out Gunnedah and Boggabri for the air drops of the papers ---- it always amuses me that you could get the Sydney papers by about 07.30 in 1948, now, with luck, late afternoon.

[Rated De]

it always amuses me that you could get the Sydney papers by about 07.30 in 1948, now, with luck, late afternoon.

The late Ben Sandlilands mused a similar observation with a wry chuckle: In 1968 a Sydney Melbourne sector was 65 minutes, now it is 95 minutes!

[Wunwing]

At he time Qantas crew purchased their suitcases from the Qantas Staff shop. It was in one of these that the ransom was delivered to the van.
From then on whenever we purchased a new one we asked for a Mr Brown.
Wunwing

[LeadSled]

At he time Qantas crew purchased their suitcases from the Qantas Staff shop. It was in one of these that the ransom was delivered to the van.
From then on whenever we purchased a new one we asked for a Mr Brown.
Wunwing

And great suitcases they were, too --- Globite, just like my old "school lunch" schoolbag. Made from compressed paper, in the days (well) before polypropylene etc..
Made in Australian, and a damned sight better than the equivalent ones supplied to BOAC.
Tootle pip!!

[Stationair8]

So how did Captain Selwyn get passed the HR people at Qantas?

Wonder how did the good Captain debrief himself and the crew after this incident, a few pints at the local RSL club?

[LeadSled]

So how did Captain Selwyn get passed the HR people at Qantas?

Wonder how did the good Captain debrief himself and the crew after this incident, a few pints at the local RSL club?

Folks,
In those days, HR as we know it today didn't exist, although a psych test was introduced in the late 50s/early 60s, anybody remember the lady in lower George Street Sydney, (not far from the "College of Knowledge") who conducted said test??

Would you believe interviews were actually conducted by real pilots, and the aeroplanes didn't crash and burn --- in fact, there was actually a small Aircrew Personnel section within Flight Ops., but it was largely a clerical operation, pilots hired pilots.

However, the introduction, some years later, of "serious" psych tests, other testing nonsense and the intrusion of "real" HR (Human Remains) "professionals" and serious industrial interference is a story in itself.

As a large majority of the crews had had Germans, Japanese or Korean/Russians/North Vietnamese shooting at them for part of their careers, the attitude was you didn't get all of a tizz about nothing.

Tootle pip!!

PS: Come to think of it, in this day and age, it would probably be regarded as: " An expression of toxic masculinity by those exercising their white male assumed superiority", and probably disqualify you from the "flight station", previously known as the cockpit.

[blow.n.gasket]

I overheard someone in HR say “ because of affirmative action the cockpit should now be referred to as the Box Office “

[Jenna Talia]

As a matter of historical interest I knew the captain of that 707 personally . His name was Bill Selwyn. Before joining Qantas he flew DC3 and Lockheed Hudsons with The Sydney Morning Herald Flying Services based at Camden NSW in 1947-50. That company air dropped newspapers at various places in northern NSW. During WW2, Bill flew Vickers Wellington bombers over Occupied Europe. He was one of the most calm and relaxed individuals I have met in the flying game.

As a 16 year old general hand with the Herald Flying Services at the time Bill was there, I occasionally operated as chucker-outer of newspapers into fields such as Armidale, Glen Innes, Muswellbrook, and landing at Tamworth, Casino, Evans head and Coffs Harbour. The pilots let me fly the aircraft in straight and level and in turn I made them cups of awful chicory coffee which looked like black goo. My boss was Captain Harry Purvis AFC, the General Manager of the operation at Camden. Doug Swain DFC was the flight superintendent. Doug was killed in a Hudson crash in the Barrington Tops in NSW some years later.

It's posts like this I wish that PPRuNe had a Like or Thanks button.

Thanks for sharing.